Whole farm milk can be used to make cottage cheese or cheese. It cooks quickly enough - about 10 minutes. It takes about two hours to shape the product. After it can be offered to the table or placed in a brine to save longer.
- The amount of the finished product: 400 g.
- Cooking time: from 10 minutes.
Essential ingredients and equipment
To make a small head of cheese, you will need the following products:
- homemade milk - 3 liters;
- sour cream - 7 tablespoons without a slide;
- juice of one lemon;
- table salt - 1 tablespoon in cheese and 2 tablespoons in brine.
During cooking, you will need the following equipment:
- 4 liter pan;
- a sieve and a container for producing lemon juice;
- teaspoon and tablespoon;
- gauze - 1 square. m .;
- saucer;
- board;
- colander and bowl for collecting serum;
- knife;
- wooden spatula;
- liter jar with a screw cap.
Step-by-step cheese making process
1. Pour milk into a saucepan and heat.
2. Squeeze the juice out of a whole lemon. Three liters of milk will need 5 to 6 tablespoons of lemon juice.
Cut the citrus in half and squeeze, holding over a sieve so that the bones do not fall into the cup with juice.
3. In hot milk add sour cream and mix well. This ingredient will make the mass thicker and start the process of curdling milk.
In order for the hot mass not to burn, it must be periodically stirred by running a wooden spatula along the bottom.
5. When sour cream is evenly distributed in milk, add lemon juice. It helps curd to separate from whey.
6. Bring the milk to a boil, stirring constantly. When foam appears on the surface, we reduce the fire. After boiling, cook the curd for 1 minute.
7. We put gauze in 4 layers. I do not recommend using material in 1 or 2 layers. When the whey is pressed, cottage cheese will seep through the cells. We put a bowl in the sink (with a volume of at least 3 liters). We put a colander lined with gauze in it. Using tacks, take a pan and pour the contents into a container with gauze.
8. Remove the colander from the bowl with whey and rearrange it on a plate. We don’t pour the serum, it is still useful. Let the liquid drain, and cool the curd a little.
9. When the homemade cottage cheese has cooled, add salt to taste. We collect the edges of the gauze together and tightly twist, removing the remaining liquid.
10. We spread the cottage cheese tightly formed in the hemisphere onto the board, cover it with a saucer on top and put it under oppression (any suitable size container with water). It takes 2 to 4 hours to form soft cottage cheese into home-made cheese.
11. Having removed the oppression, carefully unfold the edges of the gauze. We take out the resulting product and put it on the board.
12. If the cheese is planned to be served on the table on the day of preparation, then it can be cut into plates or cubes. It is great for making salads and pizza.
13. If there is a desire to try young cheese like mozzarella, then cut the head into cubes and place them in brine.
To prepare it, pour the whey into a liter jar, add 2 tablespoons of salt and mix. After 2 hours, the product acquires a characteristic salty taste. You can store such cheese for no more than three days.
